AlterNet: Bush Lies Uncovered:

Jim Lobe looks at two revealing interviews that cast new light on the real reasons for invading Iraq.

The first is from Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress (is it just a coincidence that their acronym is INC?), who "shrugged off accusations his group had deliberately misled the administration, saying, 'We are heroes in error.''

'As far as we're concerned, we've been entirely successful,' he told the UK's Telegraph newspaper. 'That tyrant Saddam is gone and the Americans are in Baghdad. What was said before is not important. The Bush administration is looking for a scapegoat. We're ready to fall on our swords if he wants.'

The second quote is from U.S. retired Gen Jay Garner, who was in charge of planning and administering post-war reconstruction from January through May 2002. Asked how long U.S. troops might remain in Iraq, Garner replied, ''I hope they're there a long time," and then compared U.S. goals in Iraq to U.S. military bases in the Philippines between 1898 and 1992.

''One of the most important things we can do right now is start getting basing rights with (the Iraqi authorities)," he said. ''And I think we'll have basing rights in the north and basing rights in the south ... we'd want to keep at least a brigade."

''Look back on the Philippines around the turn of the 20th century: they were a coaling station for the navy, and that allowed us to keep a great presence in the Pacific. That's what Iraq is for the next few decades: our coaling station that gives us great presence in the Middle East."

Read more at Alternet.org.